How Ivey startup Lending Loop went from classroom to real world

When Brandon Vlaar and Cato Pastoll, both HBA ’14, founded Lending Loop two years ago, they knew there would be some controversy.

Lending Loop connects small businesses with individual investors online. At the time, there weren’t any rules for peer-to-peer lending in Canada – Lending Loop was the first of its kind.

During their time at Ivey, the entrepreneurs took a class with Associate Professor J.P. Vergne that focused on controversial disruptive companies – think Uber and Bitcoin – and how they impacted their industries. Vlaar and Pastoll drew on class material and worked with securities regulators to build a framework, and the company has since taken off.